´óÏó´«Ã½

A commercial radio music producer once told me of a two record rule...that listeners won't put up with two songs in a row they don't like. If that happens they're likely to tune to another radio station that's playing a song they do like.

We had a "two stories" moment on 5live Breakfast this morning, when we followed an item about a call for legal recognition of the word kilt with an interview with an SNP politician who supports a Scottish takeover of HBOS.

The problem? They were both, in essence, Scottish stories.

Never mind our obligation to report the whole of the UK. Never mind that the B in ´óÏó´«Ã½ stands for British. For many of those listeners who text in to the programme, it was too much.

We were accused of being ´óÏó´«Ã½ Scotland...another texter wanted news for the 50 million English rather than five million in Scotland. They'd had enough of Scots "bleating".

This wasn't an isolated case. Anything with a hint of Scottishness tends to provoke a reaction - Scottish politicians (particularly those at Westminster), stories about funding of the Scottish government and Scottish football.

It's not just stories connected to Scotland of course. Audiences are no longer passive. We've invited them to interact and they do that in large numbers. They tell us what they think of issues we're covering, but also about our story selection, our presenters, our time-keeping - everything.

The digital world will increasingly give people much more ability to choose the news they want at the time and place of their choosing - and will increasingly allow them to select which sort of stories they want to hear. At least then, when there's a "two in a row" problem, they'll only have themselves to blame.

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Nicky Campbell was live in Paris this morning - and will be appearing on Drive this afternoon and will present Weekend Breakfast from Paris tomorrow too.

But some e-mailer/texters weren't happy. Broadly they were asking why waste money sending him to Paris - and to add insult to some people's injury - he's Scottish so what's it got to do with him.

I'm the programme editor and there were discussions with the controller of 5live Bob Shennan as soon as England qualified for the final. Last weekend Matt Smith had presented the Breakfast show on Saturday and Sunday from Paris - and we agreed that England's appearance in the final merited similar treatment.

Why? Well, 5live has the rights to commentate on the so across the station we've been keen to follow the tournament in detail and give maximum exposure to our coverage. Having a presenter like Nicky enables us to report more effectively on the build-up to the event. This is arguably the biggest sporting event featuring a UK team since the last rugby world cup final.

Having a presenter there enables us to get better guests (people prefer talking face to face), it enables us to have access to fans and hopefully it gives people listening a sense of the atmosphere in the run up to the event. This morning we spoke to Victor Obogu and Brian Moore, to English fans and South Africa supporters. We were able to reflect the level of interest in France and report on the search for tickets.

For those who accuse Nicky of going on a "jolly" you'll be glad to know we are working Nicky as hard as possible. He hasn't got a ticket to the game - and will have to dash back to present his Sunday morning TV programme The Big Questions.

5live programmes aim wherever possible to be live at major news and sports events. We believe it leads to better programmes. This is what the judges of the said "(5live Breakfast) has a great sense of movement and being "out there" and is the perfect antidote to the normal studio bound fare at that time of day. Its take on sport is unique and, in Nicky Campbell, it has someone who is equally at home as a presenter or a reporter. His snatched interview with Colin Montgomery at was one of the broadcasting highlights of the year."

For those worried about the cost, believe me we do our upmost to do these OBs as cheaply as possible and the fact that the final is in Paris means the costs were not excessive.

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We like doing OBs on the Breakfast programme on Five Live. But there's always a bit of an issue about getting places where things are happening at the kind of anti-social times we go on air.

So this morning at about 0620, when crowds of teenagers struck up a chant "Oggy,Oggy, Oggy" (that's one for spellcheck) and a man started playing the bagpipes, we knew were in for a different kind of programme.

Shelagh Fogarty was capturing the sights and sounds as 40,000 scouts celebrated the 100th anniversary of a youth organisation which now claims 28 million members around the world. These were not the "don't-get-out-of-bed-till-midday" types. It was barely dawn, but these teens were bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and having an absolute ball.

Normally stories we do on the programme about young people tend to focus on things like binge-drinking, drug-taking, underage sex or obesity. There was little of any of these to report this morning.

But did the listeners mind? Well, largely no. Interestingly there was an overwhelmingly positive response - even on texts which normally are rich in cynicism.

Many people seemed to welcome hearing a different view of young people. Ok, some of the response was from former scouts - or parents of youngsters in the throng at Hylands Park in Chelmsford.

Yet a significant number were from people just pleased to see the world through a less depressing prism for a change. Some even said it made them wish they'd joined up as a child.

It doesn't mean obesity isn't still a major issue, and that we won't be reporting on problems like underage drinking. But it might just give us extra reason to pause for thought.

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At 06:05 this morning, the following text message dropped into the Breakfast inbox.

"I am getting fed up hearing about Tony Blair - change your record. Robert in Cheltenham"

This was not what we wanted to hear. We'd only been on air five minutes. We'd barely mentioned his name.

And we had already got extensive plans for the Five Live Breakfast programme - to reflect on the impending departure of Tony Blair. We wanted to hear from listeners - telling us what they would remember about the soon-to-be ex-PM. But, if Robert in Cheltenham was typical, we could be swimming against the tide.

Fortunately, Robert turned out to be a fairly solitary voice. Plenty of other people wanted to have their say about Tony Blair. The critics were out in force, The same words kept cropping up - spin, Iraq, lies, illegal war, pensions. But there were others who wanted to praise Blair too - for example Valarie in Essex...

Thanks Tony Blair for saving our NHS and hence saving the life of my lovely Granddaughter and Thank you also for saving my life and for the wonderful treatment I received for Breast Cancer, I could not have got better if I had gone private.

And so, hour after hour, the reaction continued to pour in. Even though Mr Blair was not leaving his job straight away, but merely telling the world his intentions, people were armed and ready with the opinions of 10 years under Labour.

It was meaty stuff - there were allegations of broken promises, claims of a new dawn for the NHS, complaints about education standards, celebrations of investments in new buildings.

But when it comes to interaction people like nothing more than a gag. And as John Pienaar stood outside Downing Street telling us about the arrivals of cabinet colleagues for a moment of history, someone was spotted carrying a guitar case into Number 10.

Oh no. He's not going to sing is he? No sooner had the idea been given the briefest of airings, than we were inundated again - this time with the titles of the songs Tony might sing to his chums after he bade them farewell. No more mr nice guy... Tears of a clown... you get the idea.

And then the tone changed again. William Hague - a man who once had his own ambitions to be PM - said there should now be a general election. It should be down to the people not the Labour party to decide who should run the country. This even before Mr Blair had spoken publicly about his plans.

And so a text vote started on Five Live... and within minutes hundreds of people had voted. Eighty percent (in an unscientific straw poll) said yes - there should be an election.

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"Get Nicky in a hair-net". That was the, admittedly, rather vague proposal put to the Breakfast programme producer tasked with arranging an outside broadcast (OB) from Scotland which would aim to focus on .

Why? Well, we wanted to be inside a factory, talking to people who work on a production line. Making politics relevant to people's lives can be a challenge at the best of times. Making the issues of the Scottish elections of interest to a UK-wide audience can be even tougher.

So we decided to try to base our OB away from the traditional political haunts. We didn't want to be in Edinburgh in the shadow of the Holyrood Parliament itself. So we approached to ask if we could broadcast from alongside their production line.

They are famous for making, amongst other things, Wham bars, Highland toffee, bon-bons and mints. Many people around the UK know their products and there was a story too - the company in the last two years.

And, most importantly of all, the workers have to wear hair-nets inside the factory in Stenhousemuir.

So Nicky Campbell paraded in all his blue-netted glory this morning (listen to the programme here). It made - I hope - for a different sort of political OB. It meant the politicians had to try to address what their policies would mean to people like those on the production line.

It also gave Nicky plenty of room for sweet-related puns. He said to the wannabee First Minister Jack McConnell, "we're surrounded by pinky goo-ey stuff - sounds like your campaign", and there were plenty of references to the political "fudge" which is expected once the votes are counted and the parties have to consider forming coalitions.

We still discussed Scottish independence, the Barnett formula, health spending, oil revenues, taxation - and other political issues. And Stenhousemuir football club too.

But hopefully the location - and the discussion of sweet manufacturing and of listeners all-time favourite confections - made for a good listen. As one person noted - we were trying to sweeten the bitter political pill.

And did it work? Well, as Nicky checked in for his flight from Glasgow Airport, he was greeted by the woman at check-in, "good morning, Mr Campbell - taken the hair-net off then?"

There are other elections coming up too... council elections throughout much of England and Scotland, and the Welsh Assembly election too. The ´óÏó´«Ã½'s political coverage does get criticised for being too Westminster based - and this is a good opportunity to reflect a broader agenda. But to what extent do we succeed? Hair-nets aside, how else should we be trying to make connections with these elections?

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One of the worst jobs for any reporter has got to be when they are asked to try to make contact with the relatives of someone who's just died. They may be a victim of an accident, a crime, killed by a terrorist attack or died in military service. Whatever the reason, that knock on the door is a particularly hard thing to do.

The reaction is normally predictable. Most people, understandably, don’t want to talk. But, for some relatives, the chance to share their thoughts about a lost loved one can seem something of a release.

And in recent weeks on Five Live we've found people actually coming to us. This morning we featured the story of a family from Nottingham whose son was murdered outside their home. They wanted to speak publicly because they were unhappy about various aspects of the way they've been treated since their son's death. (You can listen to the interview here.)

Also this week we had exclusive audio with Jane Bowden, the fiancée of Peter Woodhams who was also killed outside his home. She'd come into contact with us during our investigations into the collapse of the Christmas club Farepak. Given the chance, she wanted to tell people how unhappy she'd been with the original police investigation into an earlier attack on Peter.

Instances like these don’t mean reporters will never have to knock on doors again. But it does show again how quickly the relationship between us and our audience is changing - and, maybe, how some people see parts of the media that they used to keep at an arm's length as a potentially useful ally in getting their message across.

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Britain was a nation of animal lovers. Or was it shopkeepers?

And an Englishman's home was his castle.

But in 2007, have we become a Kingdom united by our love of the car?

Just mention a topic about cars on the radio first thing in the morning, and the response is instantaneous. It might be road pricing, car parking, the cost of petrol or, like this morning, the use of a mobile phone while driving.

Hell hath no fury like a motorist scorned - or at least told by someone else how to behave behind the wheel. Our text service runs hotter that the tarmac on the M25 in the middle of July, the e-mails more jammed than the M6 in the rush-hour.

The anti-car lobby tries to be heard from the sidelines, but it tends to be about as effective as a bicycle bell against a cacophony of car horns. The roar of the traffic drowns out most other opinions.

With more cars on the roads than ever before, we probably shouldn't be surprised. But - after nearly two million people were sent an e-mail by the prime minister because they petitioned the Downing Street website - it seems motorists are learning the power of putting their collective foot down.

We'll keep putting other opinions on air too, but is there a risk they'll increasingly be drowned out by the supporters of the right to drive? Jeremy Clarkson for PM?

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Maybe I shouldn't say this - and we definitely shouldn't tell their agents - but we do ask an awful lot of our presenters.

This has struck home on Five Live Breakfast because Shelagh Fogarty is taking four weeks holiday (already dubbed her "gap month"). In her absence Gabby Logan has joined Nicky Campbell on the programme.

Now Gabby is a very experienced and able broadcaster. She's coped with all that live television can throw at her. So chatting on the radio is going to be a breeze, isn't it?

But it's not as simple as that, of course. And what struck me as we tried to talk her through the programme was the complexity of the technology we expect presenters to master. First of all there's the news production system (called ENPS) in which we create our running orders. Simple - just keep a different running order open for each of the three hours of the programme; navigate between the different items seamlessly while still talking on the radio, interviewing guests, quizzing reporters. The programme's all live of course, so there's no break in the action - no long taped items to take a breather or get your bearings.

Oh, and please also keep an eye on another window on your computer as text messages come into the programme. Easy. There are hundreds of them of course. They are on a whole range of subjects. And include views, opinions and words which often make your eyes water. The production team mark up the ones for broadcast - but it's still a lot to look at.

And don't forget the e-mails (yep, another window to keep open). They can be quite long and take some reading.

That's for starters. If you really want to be the complete Breakfast presenter, you might want to find the time to keep an eye on the Breakfast blog - and help brief yourself for interviews or react to things people say to you by doing some rapid online research. It's also helpful to glance at the TV screens in the studio - particularly when there's some live sport going on. As England's cricketers toil Down Under, a dramatic moment is never far away.

And we ask a presenter to get grips with all of this as well as ask perceptive, probing questions; brief themselves on a wide range of stories and issues; and bring out the best of contributors who may well be anxious about appearing on air.

All this of course before the sun has even come up. Gabby, being a pro, is playing a blinder of course. But I now know why Shelagh was so keen to have an extended lie down.

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The controversy over our decision to take the Breakfast programme to Eton for the morning (which you can see photos of ) even got them talking on rival outlets. The boss of another early morning show wanted to know "what on earth is the point of broadcasting live from Eton on Friday? Madcap idea and a waste of our money highlighting a bunch of irrelevant toffs whose parents wouldn't know what Radio Five Live was, never mind listen to it. Sounds like some Tristram at the ´óÏó´«Ã½ thought it would be a wheeze."

So why were we there? Well, we've always tried to take the programme to places you don’t normally hear from. We did the first ever live programme from inside a young offenders' institution, we spent one morning with teenage mums at a special help centre in north east England, we broadcast from inside an army camp - and we took the programme to the home of a Muslim couple angry at the media portrayal of their religion.

Each gives a glimpse (we hope) of a part of life that few of us experience first hand. And being at Eton also brought to the surface some of those age-old tensions. Should we give airtime to the privileged few? Why weren't we at a failing school on a sink estate? Who cares about these toffs? The texts and emails came thick and fast.

But there were many supporters of Eton too. I was surprised by the number of former - and current - pupils who posted on our blog. Others said that they had no time for the old style class "envy" of those fortunate to get such a first class education.

And so the debate goes on. I think it was a tremendous wheeze. And I've never met Tristram.

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Please beg my indulgence, but Breakfast on Five Live has never received a text message like this before: "To the Breakfast Editor: Good programme idea."

Steve, wherever you are, thank you.

Of course, it wasn't really my idea, but heh, you've got to take the plaudits wherever you can find them. It's also very gratifying when a plan - developed by the programme team - makes a big impression on air.

Our broadcast from the home of Khalid Anis and his wife Sara certainly generated a big response. Nicky Campbell spent the whole of the programme with them, and various other guests. The idea came about when Khalid e-mailed us to complain about the fact he only seemed to hear "radical" Muslim voices on air. "Where are the moderates like me?" he moaned.

We took him up on his challenge to spend a day in his company. In fact we went further. Jags from our interactive team took a camera and filmed a day in his life. (You can watch a day in Khalid's life here, hear the programme here, and see pictures here.)

Of course not all the feedback was positive. There were several texts and e-mails along the lines of "Oh no, not Muslims again" . In fact, Khalid and Sara told Nicky they too are fed up of hearing about Muslims in the news. Some people who work here were sceptical too. Was it patronising? Would we get the tone right?

But there's been a lot of positive reaction too. Some other bits of ´óÏó´«Ã½ News told us they wish they'd had the idea. A couple of sceptics told us they were won over, not least by Sara's passionate arguments.

And we also had a lot of questions from people. Some were challenging what the Koran had to say about certain issues, others wanted to know practical details (why do you have to pray five times a day? Why not six - or four?) Others were just grateful to hear some calmer voices in a debate which so often gets taken over by the more strident opinions.

Predictably, others wanted to know when we might spend a day with a Christian or a Jew or a Hindu. It's something we would certainly consider. What do you reckon, Steve?

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Another bit of swearing hit the airwaves on Thursday morning. It came as we on Five Live Breakfast were talking to an Israeli soldier about a protest against his country's leadership over the handling of recent conflict.

"I'm sorry for the word, but they f***ed up and they have to pay the price," said the soldier.

Nicky Campbell apologised - and immediately people contacted us to say that was unnecessary.

"The use of the F word was in my view completely in context," said one listener, Keith.

The broadcasting industry watchdog Ofcom however says caution must be taken over swearing, particularly at Breakfast time. Indeed Radio 1 has threatened to fine presenters if they are caught swearing on air.

So is a soldier swearing something we should say sorry for?

Here's another e-mail:

"re the interview earlier with Israeli officer. Great radio, not at all offended, it's real people in a real situation that man had just walked off a battlefield and was speaking from the heart !!! It's what Five Live is all about !!!
Keep it up - Andy Owens, Liverpool"

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This morning's programme was an example of when the previous 24 hours' work, leading up to 0600, is ripped up and thrown out of the window.

Just before we went on air, we learned about which, we're now told, prevented "mass murder on an unimaginable scale".

Our planned programme was junked and we were quickly into rolling news mode. There were two key elements to the story; the operation by the police and MI5 to arrest people thought to be planning attacks on aircraft, and the chaos caused to air travellers throughout the UK by heightened security.

Reporters like Anna Lee on Teeside, Ross Hawkins in London and James Shaw in Glasgow were woken by dawn phone calls scrambling them to get to their nearest airport. Others like Stephen Chittenden rang in - he was scheduled for a relaxing day off - instead he dashed off to Stansted Airport to see what was happening there.

But our reporting effort wasn't restricted to ´óÏó´«Ã½ people. As soon as we went on air we asked our audience where they were and if they could help us paint a picture of what was going on around the country.

One of the first responses wasn't all that encouraging. "Is it really 2 much 2 ask u 2 do the journalistic work rather than rely on the public to text you on every major breaking story?".

Undeterred, during the course of the first hour of the programme we heard from Kevin at Gatwick, Simon in Jersey, Michael at Heathrow and Jimmy in Edinburgh as we sought to reflect the scenes of confusion and delay at various airports. Other texters appeared throughout the programme as the scale of the chaos became clear.

We also heard from who was listening to Five Live on her way to the airport and rang in with her own tale of queues and crowds.

Plenty of other people gave us information about what was going on in their locality - and lots of people texted in questions they wanted answering. Some were downright impossible for us to help with - at 0611 someone asked, "I am flylng tomorrow - was wondering if the weight limit will be increased to take account of the five kilos that normally go in the cabin".

By the end of the programme, Easyjet and British Airways had come on to help us answer those questions. Others wanted to know what was happening with Eurostar services or whether their relatives flying in from other parts of the world were likely to arrive on time.

Finally, it's on days like these that you learn about who might be listening to the programme. When sports presenter Juliette Ferrington arrived at Manchester City for a scheduled news conference, she was greeted by . When she confessed she'd been listening to music instead of the news, he told her she really should be listening to Five Live - it's very informative.

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- and the campaign of his wife Sam to know exactly how he died - has been a very unusual one for us.

Steve Roberts was the first British serviceman to die in action in the second Gulf War. Usually, when covering news, we only come across people like the Roberts in the aftermath of a tragedy. But in their case, we knew all about them beforehand.

How? Well, Sam Roberts had been a guest in Leeds when Five Live Breakfast had hosted a discussion about the merits of going to war in Iraq. She had passionately argued her case, supporting the decision to go to war and speaking with pride about what her husband had gone to do.

After the programme, the production team had commented that she had been a very powerful and impressive contributor. We ought to keep tabs on her story, we decided. But there was shock in the office when, within days, we got news that a Sgt Roberts had been killed in action in Iraq. It couldn't be the same officer, surely? It wasn't long before it became clear it was.

A couple of months later, we arranged with Sam to present the programme from her home. Nicky Campbell, complete with producer and engineer, set up camp in her front room in North Yorkshire. Her story was told in what was to become her trademark manner; calm, considered - and compelling.

During that programme we got the first indication that there was even more to this story. We learned that Steve had kept a diary of his experiences - a diary that was to launch about whether troops were adequately protected.

And - apart from following Sam's fight to get the truth about her husband's death - she also appeared on the programme as a guest reporter. As the military claimed victory in Iraq, she interviewed various people as she assessed the cost of that success.

And when George W Bush made a controversial visit to Britain, she reported on people's reaction to his trip - and gave us exclusive access to other wives who has been bereaved by the war.

We await with interest to know whether Sam is satisfied with the official report into her husband's death. We hope to hear from her on Thursday.

Richard Jackson is editor of Five Live Breakfast

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